The Summit Project: Goblin Grin
by Raiyane
Summary: Follow the tale of Goblin Grin, a brand-new guild in the prestigious Summit Alliance as they try to make a name for themselves across Fiore! Part of the Summit Project, a collaboration between MyDearWatson, Raiyane, Origm2012 and Dreadburner94. SLOTS ARE CLOSED! Check back later, though
1. Goblin Grin's Grumpy Guild Master

**August 15** **th** **, X799, Approximately 8PM, Outside of Poppy Village**

"UGH! To hell with them!"

A rather rugged looking woman stomped up a dusty, forest-lined trail up to the small village that she now called her home. The woman stood at 5'8'' with a pear shaped figure that was clad in a revealing lime green tube top and black leather short-shorts with silver chains hanging from the belt-loop and dark brown, calve-high hiking boots with bright magenta laces. A black and neon purple bandanna hung from her neck and her hands were covered by leather, black fingerless gloves with neon blue cuffs and X's cut out from the top of them.

Her skin held a deep tan to it and while the right side of her hair was buzzed, the left side was chin length, hanging down messily with a braid in the front, framing her jaw. It was dirty blond in color, with bright magenta dye in the front of it. Her eyes were narrowed and forest green, with thick, arched brows and lime green eye liner, black eyeliner and mascara. She had two silver studs in her right ear, one at the lobe and one at the top, and they were connected by a silver chain. There was a jagged burn scar on top of her right forearm and over her left rib-cage was a large, sky blue asterisk with lime-green lining.

Overall, the woman looked nothing short from a thug and her angry appearance didn't help matters any. She fumed and occasionally through her hands up or punched at the air as she made her way back home. "Why the hell would they let me into the stupid alliance if they weren't gonna help me out any?" She questioned.

She pictured Nero's smug face when he informed her that God Hand would not be giving any funds to Goblin Grin. She was one of Nero's best A-ranks, probably! How the hell could he refuse to help her any?

"GAH!" she growled, throwing a glowing green fist into the air as she tried to punch Nero's face in her mind. So. Fucking. Annoying! How was she supposed to get her guild, Goblin Grin, kicked off without a little help? He wouldn't even advertise for her or send any mages her way! What was wrong with him?! On top of that, he had treated her absolutely coldly since she had announced that she would be leaving her place as a God Hand A-rank to found her own guild. Why? Who the hell did he think he was?

And then… There was Harlow. In all honesty, if she wasn't so pissed, the woman probably wouldn't have any reason to be annoyed with the master of Seahorse Crest-another guild in the Summit Alliance, but it added insult to injury that at the meeting Harlow didn't even know who she was? How could someone not know Tik, the strongest Hazard mage in all of Fiore?! Not that there were that many Hazard mages in Fiore, but that didn't matter right now! She was mad and she had reasons to be!

Tik had left her guild less than a month ago to make her own guild, which she had named Goblin Grin after a children's storybook that she had read a lot when she was child. After talking for months with her grandmother about it, she had finally gotten approval to go ahead and go through with it. However, she hadn't been informed that no one would be helping her, even though she had been told that she could be part of the Summit Alliance!

Now, she was heading back to Poppy Village where the Goblin Grin guild hall was located, if it could even be called a guild hall. It sure as hell wasn't anything compared to the old clock-tower that God Hand was located in. She was going to miss- Like hell she was! She was a guild master now! And she was going to be the best guild master in all of the Valley! She would show Nero and Harlow and rub it in their faces when Goblin Grin became the best guild in the alliance!

She was grinning from ear to ear, a cocky, boyish grin, just thinking about it. Yep! She was going to be the best! She and all of her guild members… Once she actually got guild members of course! Apparently, thinking about being the best seemed to calm the woman down and she tucked her arms behind her head and slowed her pace for the first time since she had gotten off of the train.

Suddenly, an oddly sickening feeling being watched crept over her and she stopped and turned around. Her brows furrowed and she lifted a hand that was glowing with bright green magic. "Who the hell is following me?" she snapped.

Silence.

She poked out her thin lips and let out a grunt. "Damn… I must be losin' it with all this stress," she commented to herself, rubbing the back of her head and continuing up the road. "Maybe I'm just hungry," she added, patting her belly. Due to having to use all of her personal funds to make the initial purchase of the guild, she didn't have enough money to afford any edible food in Narcissus, so she hadn't eaten anything.

The road turned into a slope now and she walked faster up the hill, passing an old, wooden sign with peeling white paint that read, "Poppy Village: Come and Rest" in fading red letters. She sighed when she saw the sign, her eye twitching. Such a boring little town compared to Gladiolus, the home of God Hand.

It was so quiet… There wasn't a lot of money in the town and there wasn't very much tourism, though the locals seemed quite ecstatic by the few visitors they got during the weekend, when the town square boomed to life with many market stalls. The roads were dusty, beige cobblestone that was a bit worn, but still easily traversable. Most of the houses had peeling, white paint exteriors and dull colored roofs that were made of round shingles, giving them an almost cartoonish appeal. Many houses had gardens and even farm animals in some cases behind them and there were red and blue flowers outside of almost every house. Since it was night, there were simple, rusted street lights lighting the walk-way, but they were few and far between, so it was still fairly dark.

Tik wasn't used to this kind of life. All of her twenty-five years had been spent in Gladiolus and Narcissus, both of which boomed with life, especially in comparison to Poppy. She hadn't even known that Poppy existed until a week or so ago, when she started shopping around for a guild hall. She had planned to make the purchase and then get money from her grandmother and Nero to renovate and make it awesome, but… Yeah.

She passed a couple of the villagers, who looked at her with either confused or interested eyes, as she made her way to one of the few restaurants in the town: The Sprout Café. It was a small, two story building with a dull green roof and a few green plants in the flowerbeds in the front. The door was opened and a cozy, yellow glow could be seen pouring from the café.

Tik walked in and instantly, a woman with brown hair in low bun smiled brightly at her from the counter across the room. The woman was a thin, lithe woman with pale white skin and big, hazel eyes. "Well, if it isn't Poppy's local guild master!" she greeted cheerfully.

Tik waved and walked over to the counter. "'Sup, Anna!" she greeted cheerfully. "Got any work for me?"

"Still haven't gotten any missions yet, have we?" Anna questioned with a gentle laugh. When Tik's face dropped a bit, the woman stopped laughing. "Of course we have work, though."

"Thanks!" Tik said with a grin. For the past week, she had been helping to close up the restaurant in exchange for one meal at the café. It was menial work, but what else could she do? Goblin Grin hadn't gotten a single mission yet so she had nothing better to do.

"No problem," Anna responded. She then called back to the kitchen doorway behind her, "We got Tik helpin' us again!"

A "Yay!" was heard from a woman named Abigail in the kitchen, making Anna giggle. "And don't worry about missions or mages. Poppy Village and Mayor Rum are proud to have its first guild and everyone around here's talkin' about it, so I'm sure word'll get out there soon enough."

"Damn straight," Tik responded, her eyes gleaming. "And when it does, Poppy Village and Goblin Grin will be boomin'! Jus' you watch!" With that, Tik took her seat at one of the tables that were closest to the counter and looked around. There were only a couple of patrons in the café, since it was getting late by Poppy's standards. The café itself was cute, with dark wooden floors and rounds tables that were covered by dark green cloths with cute sprout patterns that matched the lighter green walls. The walls were lined with flowerbeds that had more green plants in it, making the restaurant smell like grass.

Anna brought Tik her food, which consisted of a large piece of fish and various greens and the mage chowed down. If there was anything that she could say she really enjoyed about the town, it was the food. Most of it was homegrown or fished up daily from the beaches just north of Poppy, so it tasted amazing. Besides that, the guild master was starving, so it took her no time to down the food.

As soon as she finished, she was given a list of chores that Anna had written up on a napkin for her. It was typical things, like sweeping, changing out table cloths and wiping down tables, mopping and helping with the dishes. Easy enough, even if it was really boring.

* * *

The night passed and after she was finished with work, Tik parted ways with Abigail and Anna and continued to walk towards her guild hall, crossing the sprawling town square that was located at the center of town in the crosshair of the four roads in the process. She stopped at the bulletin board in town, hoping that maybe there was something that needed to be done, only to find that the only postings were advertisements for shops that would be there in the following weekend.

She headed down the southern road and walked all the way to the edge of town, where there was a two story building that matched the rest of the town, with a pale orange roof. She could see trails that led into the mountains that loomed over the village right behind the guild hall. There were empty flowerbeds outside of the building as Tik did not know how to garden enough to plant anything and over the dark brown doorway, there was a messily painted sign that read "Goblin Grin" in neon green paint, covering black letters that used to read, "Sunnyside Café". The paint had dripped and colored the white, stone landing green and black. Just to the south of the building, there was a small chalkboard sign that read, "Looking for strong mages! Come inside!" in orange and green chalk, though the "strong" had been slashed through recently.

She pulled out a small, golden key from her shorts pocket and unlocked the door, entering the guild hall. It was obvious that the building used to be a café. There were round, cream colored tables everywhere and four-person booths lining the walls, all with pale orange seating. The floor was made of pale wood and the walls were pale orange with bright orange flower prints on them. There was a ceiling fan in the middle of the room, which began whirring when Tik cut on the lights.

To the left of the entrance was a counter with an empty display case and a door behind it leading to a kitchen. There was a chalk-board menu over the counter, but Tik had written, "Anyone welcomed to cook! Will cook fish for jewel!" in messy handwriting. Across the room from the entrance was a doorway, leading to a staircase that led to the second floor and a hatch that led to the cellar. Beside that was an empty bulletin board for missions. To right of the entrance was a hall that led to two restrooms.

Tik had done some cleaning, but it was still so dusty and there were still some old boxes and barrels here and there that the old owners had left behind that she had yet to move. Instead of getting the guild hall flawlessly clean, she had been trying to meet some of the residents of the town and find mages who may be interested in joining the guild. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a strong affinity for magic in Poppy Village, so while most of the village liked the idea of Goblin Grin, none of them had any interest in joining.

"Oh, well," Tik sighed out as she headed for the cellar, flipping open the hatch. "Tomorrow is a new day! And I jus' know I'll get some guild members soon!"

She climbed down the ladder in to what used to be a wine cellar, with wine shelves lining the walls and cold, gray stone floors. Now, it was the Goblin Grin "dorms" if one could call them that. Really, there were just a bunch of dingy brown bedrolls on the floor, each with a wooden box and oil lantern beside them for a nightstand and lamp, and a small, cheap black lockbox at the foot of the bedroll for storage. Tik had the keys to the lockboxes, but she planned to give them out to mages who decided to live in the guild hall.

The southern-most wall stood out because there was a fairly large hole in it, and a shove beside it. Tik had heard rumors of a hot-springs near the mountains and she had decided that if she could find it, she would have awesome bathing facilities for her mages, instead of the single shower that was located in a bathroom on the top floor of the guild.

She walked over to the hole, but sleepiness hit her at that moment and she held her forehead. Today had been tiring and annoying. "I'll jus' work on that some tomorrow," she mumbled to herself, walking over to the bedroll that was closest to the hole. She had placed a piece of cardboard against the oil lamp that read "TIK" in black writing, marking that particular bedroll as hers. She curled up on it and fell asleep while thinking about what kind of mages she was going to get in her guild. She couldn't wait!

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _A new project! I'm so excited to be uploading this! Anyway, a few of you visited my forums so you guys may have seen us discussing doing something like this. Well, we got our plans together so welcome to The Summit Project! This is a collaboration between MyDearWatson, Origm2012, Dreadburner94 and myself! So that means, in order to know everything about the characters and the universe, you will need to read these four stories:_

 _The Summit Project: God Hand by Dreadburner94_

 _The Summit Project: Seahorse Crest by MyDearWatson_

 _The Summit Project: Goblin Grin by Raiyane_

 _The Summit Project: Ragnarok's Call by Origm2012_

 _I'm really happy to be working with these three because they are awesome people and writers and really fun to work with! X3_

 _There will be links to the other three stories on my profile, along with OC submission rules and the OC form. So, there are some rules that I want to reiterate here, though!_

 _-All four of us will look at and have access to every character! We don't want too many similar characters as all characters have a chance of appearing in every story, though they will be side characters or villains in the stories that aren't of their guild. We only want characters via PM! And send us characters of our guild. That means Goblin Grin OCs go to me, Seahorse Crest to MyDearWatson, God Hand to Dreadburner94 and Ragnarok's Call to Origm2012._

 _-For now, we only want 2 Main Character OCs per person across the entire project! That means before you decide to reserve a spot/send a character to a story, you should read all four prologues and decide where you want your OC(s) to be. We also want each OC to be in a different guild, unless you have a really, really good reason to have 2 OCs in the same guild. We will be strictly limiting the amount of 2 OCs in the same guild though._

 _-We will be limiting slayers, too! We don't want too many of one type of slayer and for Goblin Grin, I will only accept 1 (ONE) SLAYER! They must be creative, too._

 _-You MUST use the OC FORM on our profiles and send it via PM! We know the form is long so we will accept reservations, though!_

 _-For Goblin Grin, I do NOT want OCs that just bring a whole lot of money or a new guild hall to the guild. I want there be a sense of progression in the guild hall slowly getting better and better over the course of the story, so having a character with lots of money would ruin the fun. They can bring some money for small upgrades, though, as long as every single character doesn't do it._

 _-I will be accepting 15 or 16 mages for Goblin Grin and no S-classes to start! They absolutely must be completely new characters! No use of characters that have been given to other creators! These 15-16 characters will be the frontier members of the guild! They will be only members of the guild and will be joining throughout the introduction arc._

 _-You may make establishments in Poppy Village to go along with your character, but make sure you somewhat follow the scheme of the village!_

 _-PLEASE READ THE RULES FOR GOBLIN GRIN BEFORE SENDING OCS! THANK YOU! THEY ARE HIGHLY IMPORTANT! AND FILL OUT THE ENTIRE FORM! DON'T EXPECT US TO ACCEPT OCS THAT DON'T ADHERE TO THE RULES DON'T HAVE A COMPLETE FORM!_

 _Hope you guys enjoyed! This is going to be lots of fun! Have fun everyone~_


	2. Cybernetics, Music, and Gems

**August 16** **th** **, X799, 8AM: Poppy Village**

"Oh, wow! What a cute little town!"

A young, excitable boy was currently walking down the western road of Poppy Village, his shining brown eyes stopping on every one of the quaint little buildings for a second before he continued to walk. Said boy was surprisingly seventeen years old, with tanned skin and a round, childlike face and short, wavy dark red hair. He stood at 5'5'' and was dressed in a navy blue jacket with fluffy, white trim along the edge of the hood, over a white t-shirt, dark blue suspenders that were holding up black shorts and dark blue ankle boots. His hands were covered by white gloves.

Even though one may assume that the boy was simply awestruck by the sleepy village, he was actually looking for something. Specifically a building that he heard about in the town closest to the west of Poppy.

"Hey, stranger!" Anna called out as soon as the smaller boy passed the Sprout Café. She was outside sweeping the small landing in front of the door and she smiled brightly at the young boy. "You look a bit lost."

The boy turned to her and greeted her with a friendly wave, practically bouncing over to her. "I'm not lost! I came here looking for a place called Goblin Grin!"

Anna's eyes widened for a moment and then she beamed giddily at the boy. "Well, it's right down the southern road, near the edge of town. It'll be on your left!" She pointed towards the southern road on the town square, which could be seen from the café.

He followed her gesture and then nodded. "Thank you so much! You're so kind!" he said with a small bow of his head as he turned towards the path.

"Tell the guild master that Anna said, 'Hi!'," she called as the boy walked off. "Tik is going to be so happy~!" She cheered under her breath, her eyes sparkling.

The small male walked through the town square, waving to a few people whose eyes seemed to linger on him. Even though the villagers looked a tad wary, the boy's smile was contagious, so they returned his friendly gesture and some even greeted him with friendly a friendly, "G'morning!"

He walked down the southern path, his eyes fixed on the mountains that stood over the town. He made his way to the end of the road, his eyes now locking on the buildings to his left. His eyes eventually landed on the rickety sign that read "Goblin Grin" and he grinned. "I found it!" He ran up to the entrance and knocked loudly on the door.

Silence.

He knocked again, while speaking under his breath. "Hmm… Maybe no one has arrived yet." It was fairly early in the morning. Maybe the Goblin Grin mages were late risers.

His eyes lit up when he heard moving in the building. It sounded as though someone was stomping around and after a few minutes, the door was swung open and Tik was staring down at the small boy.

It was obvious that the guild master had previously been asleep, as her hair was messy and the braid in the front was only loosely spun at this point. "Good… Morning…" Tik yawned, swiping tears away from her eyes.

"Good morning! My name is Carlos Riore and I would like to speak to the Goblin Grin guild master," the boy said, his eyes sparkling. He seemed to be oblivious to Tik's slightly grouchy demeanor.

Not that it mattered, because the moment she heard the boy's words, she perked up, practically shining as she placed her hands on her hips and stood up straight. "Well, you're lookin' at her! I'm Tik, the founder an' first guild master of Goblin Grin! Future toughest guild in Fiore!"

"Wow…" Carlos breathed out, his eyes wide and childlike. "The future toughest guild in Fiore… With such an awesome guild master, I'm sure it will be the toughest in no time!"

"Damn straight!" Tik said triumphantly. "Anyway, Carlos, what's your business with my guild today?"

"I would like to join your guild," Carlos said humbly.

Tik's jaw dropped. "My first guild member…" she mumbled under her breath. When Carlos tilted his head in a puppy-like fashion, she cleared her throat. "Well, welcome to Goblin Grin, Carlos!" She stepped out of the doorway and once Carlos entered the building, she closed the door.

"Did this used to be a café?" Carlos inquired, his eyes skimming the entire first floor.

"Yep," Tik answered, rubbing the back of her head and walking over to the counter, sitting on top of it and stretching. "Oh, right… Guild mark…" She mumbled under her breath, hopping up.

"I'll be right back, kiddo," she said, heading up the stairs.

Carlos nodded and sat down at one of tables.

Tik came back down with a large stamp in her hand and a grin on her face. "I gotta give you your guild mark. So, where do ya want it and what color?"

Carlos stood and tilted his head to where the front-left side of his neck was exposed. "On my neck and really pretty, aqua blue!"

"'Kay," Tik said, pressing the stamp to his neck. A few pale blue sparkles floated around it and when she removed it, there was an aquamarine blue asterisk on Carlos's neck. "Welcome to Goblin Grin!"

"Yay! I'm so excited!" Carlos said, running his fingers over the guild mark. Knowing it was there made him happy. "I'm sure we'll be best friends, Tik!"

Tik grinned. "Yep!" She sat down on top of a table and leaned back on her palms. "You sure are excitable, aren'tcha?"

"I'm just so happy! I can wait to meet more of my guild mates," Carlos said, bouncing on his heels.

A drop of sweat rolled down Tik's forehead at the mention of more guild mates. "Tch. Yeah, about that… You're kinda the first member, other than me…"

"Oh. Really? I'm the first normal member of the guild?" He asked, bouncing on his heels even more. "That's so cool!"

Tik chuckled under her breath, watching the boy with slightly concerned eyes. She wasn't sure why, but the boy reminded her of a puppy… So damn happy and bouncy! Not that it bothered her. It was better than getting someone who didn't want to talk for her first member. "Oh! Right. I need to give you a quick tour o' the guild," she said, standing again. She blamed her airheaded-ness on the fact that she hadn't had time to wake up yet. "It ain't much, but it's a guild hall!"

"Okay," Carlos said, following her into the kitchen, to the hall where the bathrooms were, upstairs and then finally, into the basement.

The guild master stopped in the middle of the room and sighed. "Do you got a place to stay in town, Carlos?"

"Nope," Carlos responded. While most people would probably be a bit let-down by the state of the guild hall, he was giddy. It was a guild hall! With a bit of furniture! And a kitchen! And soon he would make lots of friends! It was perfect!

"Well, you're welcomed to stay here, with me and whoever else!" she responded, pointing to the beds. "That one is mine!" she added.

Carlos skipped over to the bedroll that was to right of Tik's roll, near the eastern wall of the cellar. There was one empty bedroll beside him, so he would have people on both sides of him later. "Then this one will be mine."

Tik grinned and reached into her pocket, pulling out a keyring. She then plucked off two keys and handed them to him. "The bigger one goes to th' guild hall and the smaller one is for your lockbox! You don't gotta pay rent until we start gettin' more missions. If you need money, you'll have t' go around town with me and work!"

"I'll get to meet everyone in the town that way!" he said with a bright smile. He then surprised Tik by running over to her and hugging her, tightly. "You're such a great guild master, Tik!"

She wanted to thank him, but his hug was so tight that she couldn't breathe. "Tch…" She winced, pressing her hands to his shoulders and pushing. When she felt how hard his arms felt, she wheezed. "C-Car-Carlos…"

"Oh, sorry!" He apologized, bouncing back. "I didn't mean to hurt you!"

There were already bruises setting in on Tik's torso and she sighed, grimacing. "What the hell? Are your arms like, fuckin' metal or somethin'?" she asked a bit rudely.

"Yep!" Carlos responded, shrugging his jacket off to reveal that his arms were made of silver metal, with the joints covered in black, leathery material. There were ventilation slits on the forearms and large, clear lacrima on the shoulder plates. "See?" he asked, slipping his gloves off as well to completely unveil his arms.

"Oh," Tik said, blinking. She hadn't expected his arms to actually be metal. She noticed the lacrima and then chewed her lip for a moment. "What're the lacrima for?"

"They allow me to channel my magic into my arms. It's called Cyber Arm Magic!" he explained. "Like this!" He then held his palm out and after a few seconds of charging, a bright blue magic bullet shot from his palm and almost instantly blasted a small hole in the western wall of the basement.

Tik gawked for a good minute before shouting, "That's so fuckin' awesome!"

"I know! My arms make me super-strong in combat!" Carlos said, clapping his hands together. "I can't wait to fight something!"

"I'm sure we'll get a mission, soon!" Tik said. With both of the mages hyped up at that moment, it was quite possible that they could be heard from outside of the building, too. She calmed down for just a moment and suggested, "Why don't we go walk around Poppy some? Try to do some advertising, or somethin' like that."

"Okay!"

* * *

The two Goblin mages left the guild hall and walked around the town after that. In between talking to the villagers of Poppy and making sure that their guild was known, Carlos asked Tik some random questions.

"So… Tik… How long has you been a guild master?"

"Not even a month," Tik responded with a smirk.

"What'd you do before you were a guild master?"

"I was a member of a guild called God Hand! It was a really, really awesome guild with some of the most badass mages around!"

"Really?" Carlos asked, the same sparkle returning to his eyes. "We should go there one day and train with them!"

Tik's face dropped for a second. "Me and th' guild master ain't really getting along too well right now," she said lazily. She then curled her hands into tight fists. "That bastard and his smug ass face!"

"Hm? I'm sure you two could overcome your differences if you tried," Carlos said, patting Tik on the shoulder. He had put his jacket and gloves back on, but now that she knew, the woman could feel how his hands were cold and hard.

"Tch." A vein swelled on Tik's forehead. "Not until I can rub it in his face how damn awesome Goblin Grin is!"

"What're some of your favorite things?" Carlos asked, changing the topic almost instantly, his mind bouncing between questions. "And what's your magic?"

"I dunno. I like bright colors, warm weather and meat," Tik said with a shrug. "And I use Hazard Magic! The best damn Hazard magic around, to be exact!"

"That's so great! I bet you're really strong, too! You've got such nice muscles!"

Tik laughed. "You betcha'. I was right on my way to S-class back in God Hand!"

"Wow!"

He kept on with the questions until Tik finally let out a long sigh and stopped in front of the Sprout Café. "We're gonna work here for th' day. Why don't you try askin' Anna some of your questions?"

Carlos's eyes lingered on the café until a thought flashed in them. "Anna says 'Hi.' She told me to tell you that when she pointed me to the guild hall."

Tik chuckled under her breath, entering the café. She liked Carlos; she had no reason not to like him, but he asked a lot of questions and she was almost certain that he had more energy than anyone she had ever met before.

The villagers of Poppy seemed to agree with Tik as well. Anna let him help her with taking orders while she served food, stating the bow may be a bit too bouncy to be a waiter. Tik helped out in the back, but every-so-often, she would hear someone comment on what a bright ray of sunshine the mage was.

At the end of the day, Anna paid them in food and even a bit of jewel this time, talking to them as they chowed through the food. Carlos had thanked her at least five times already, but he had finally calmed down a bit.

"You two are so cute," Anna spoke with a smile on her face. "I hope the rest of the mages will be as colorful as you two!"

"I'm sure they'll be the best mages ever!" Carlos answered happily.

"Hm-hmm," Tik agreed, her mouth currently stuffed with food.

"And I told you that you would be getting new members, soon," Anna added, her eyes shifting from Carlos to Tik and back again. "I'm so proud of you."

Tik and Carlos didn't have time to thank her, as the door to the café opened and a petite young woman walked in with a large, black cello case in one of her hands and a simple, light brown backpack on her shoulders.

"Is this place still opened?" she asked in a gentle, innocent voice.

"Sure we are!" Anna said, standing straight and smiling at the woman. "Didn't think I'd see two unfamiliar faces in the same day. What a special occasion for Poppy!"

The girl smiled brightly, her bright amber, round eyes sparkling. Along with her bright eyes, she had short, messy blonde locks with a thin braid on each side and a messy fringe across her forehead, pale skin, and a thin, toned figure with a lack of curves. She was dressed in a loose-fitting, gray sweater and a thigh-length, navy colored, layered skirt that was held up by matching suspenders, along with knee-high white socks and red sneakers.

"This town is so peaceful… I love the charm it has," the woman said, walking into the building.

"Yep. We're known as the Village of Sleep in some parts or Sleepy Village, take your pick," Anna said, returning the smile. "What brings you here, anyway, traveler? Music, I presume?"

"Oh, yes~ I was making my way to Narcissus to perform," the woman responded. "However… I think I may stay here for a bit. My heart is drawn to it!"

"Do you use magic?" Carlos asked, hopping up and bouncing over to the girl, light in his eyes. "I'm Carlos, by the way! I'm happy to meet you!"

The woman laughed lightly. "I'm Saluka, but you can call me Salu if you want. And yes, I do. How did you guess?"

"I didn't guess! I was just hopeful!" Carlos said. "And I'm sure we'll be best friends, Salu! And you have really, really pretty eyes!"

Salu blushed brightly at Carlos's comment. "Thank you~"

Tik stood now, a grin on her face. "You could always join Goblin Grin if you're looking for a place to stay!"

"Goblin Grin?" Salu questioned. Her eyes then landed on the asterisk guild marks on the two mages and her face lit up. "There's a mage's guild in town?"

"Yep! You're lookin' at the guild master!" Tik said, pointing to herself with a cocky grin.

Salu's face held a look of deep thought for a few moments, her eyes going to the ceiling as she hummed lowly to herself. After a moment, there was a flash in her eyes and she smiled warmly at Tik. "Okay~ I'll join Goblin Grin!"

"Magnificent!" Carlos cheered. He was once again bouncing on his heels excitedly. He then turned to Tik and leaned against her shoulder as he grinned at her. "We've got another member! Now we're up to three!"

Salu giggled and when Carlos's words seemed to really hit her, she asked, "Are we the only members right now?"

"Yeah," Tik started, "but don't worry! We're a really new guild and we'll get tons of members, soon!"

"Mm-hm!" Carlos agreed.

* * *

Tik and Carlos waited for Salu to eat as well before the three mages parted ways from the Sprout Café and headed down the southern path towards the guild hall.

While Tik tucked her arms behind her head and seemed a bit relaxed, Salu and Carlos both seemed to be taking in everything about the village. Both of them were quite cheery and bubbly, but where Carlos seemed to jitter like a puppy, Salu was a bit more serene. However, every-so-often she would randomly outburst about something, such as seeing a flowerbed with vivid red-her favorite color-poppies in it or seeing a small cat on someone's roof.

Tik led them to the guild hall and unlocked the door. She then gave Salu the same tour as Carlos, but she held off on taking her down to the cellar. She left the two new mages in the first floor and headed upstairs, coming back down with the stamp and two filing folders.

"First, Salu, where do you want your guild mark 'n' what color?" she asked with the stamp in her hand.

"Hmmm…" Salu seemed to think for a few moments before she pulled down the left side of her sweater and pointed to her collarbone. "Here, in red, please."

"A'ight," Tik nodded, pressing the stamp to the smaller woman's collarbone. There was a small burst of bright red sparkles and when she removed it, there was a bright red asterisk over Salu's collarbone. "Welcome to Goblin Grin, Salu!"

Carlos cheered again, while Salu giggled. Her eyes then went to the folders that Tik had placed on the table that they were sitting at. "What are those for?" She asked in a sort of childlike manner.

"Oh, right," Tik pulled out two black pens and then sat down, handing each of the mages one of the pens and a folder. "Somethin' for the Magic Council. Don't want 'em pesterin' us, so I need to get you two to fill out these documents. I gotta send them copies of it."

Both of the mages opened the folders, noting that the form was pretty standard stuff, like full name, birthday, age, gender, magic, etc. Salu got to work right away, while Carlos seemed to struggle a bit with picking up the pen. He had to grip it a couple of times before he successfully picked it up and as soon as he started writing, a loud _SNAP!_ was heard as the pen broke in half.

Salu let out a small squeal of surprise and Tik sat up straight, her eyes locking on Carlos.

"I'm sorry…" Carlos said, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead. "I'm not very good with small objects like this. I can still write with it, though." He started writing to prove this. It was still pretty obvious that he was having some problems, as his hand moved a bit too widely when he wrote and he kept having to stop and use both hands to adjust the pen.

"If you're having problems, I'll help you if you want," Salue offered kindly. "Apart from the signature, I'm sure it doesn't matter who writes the form."

"Thank you, but I've got it," he said with a small laugh. "My arms are made of metal and I've only had them for a few years, so I'm not that good with doing little tasks like this yet. It's good practice, though."

"Your arms are metal?" Salu asked. Her face then lit up. "That sounds really neat!"

"It is!" Carlos agreed. "It's how I fight. By the way… How do you fight, Salu?"

"I use Reverberation Magic!" She said. When both of her guild mates looked at her with questioning eyes, she continued. "It works by manipulating airwaves and…" She noticed that she wasn't connecting with her guild mates so she stood and reached under her skirt, freeing a two inch long throwing knife from a strap that was on her thigh.

She then aimed the throwing knife at the wall across from them and called out, "Reverberation Magic: Tenor Tremor!" Instead of throwing the knife, a faint red magic circle that seemed to be quickly cracking like glass appeared over it and once the circle shattered, she let it go and it flew into the wall with a sharp, head-splitting screech.

Tik and Carlos instinctively covered their ears, but their gaze followed the knife, which was now embedded into the wall.

"See?" Salu said with a slight smile on her face. "That's what my magic does~"

"So amazing!" Carlos said, his eyes sparkling. He watched Salu with admiration as she walked over and attempted to pull the knife from the wall.

She tugged at it a few times before she eventually resulted in pressing one of her feet to the ground and then putting all of her strength into removing it. When it still didn't budge, she let out a small, nervous laugh. "I'm not strong enough to get it out."

Carlos hopped up, rays of light practically shooting off in every direction from his body. "I can do it!" he said, as he bounced over and then, with little effort, yanked the knife from the wall and handed it to Salu. "See? I'm really strong!"

"Amazing~" Salu commented, her eyes now holding the same look of childlike admiration that Carlos's had held earlier.

Tik chuckled under her breath watching them. They were silly and cute to her. She was already starting to like her guild a lot!

The rest of the night passed by with Carlos and Salu finishing up their forms and then the three mages changing into their sleepwear before heading into the cellar. Tik was now dressed in nothing but her normal tube top and a pair of neon orange pajama pants, Salu wore a pair of blue cotton shorts and an oversized black t-shirt, and Carlos wore an oversized red t-shirt and black shorts.

Tik ran through the situation with the dorms with Salu, who seemed overly excited and took the bedroll right next to Carlos, putting her cello in the corner beside it. The two mages then stared for a good few minutes at the larger hole in the wall before Carlos finally asked.

"Why is there a huge hole in the wall?"

"Heh," Tik grinned. "I forgot to mention, but there are apparently hot springs not far south of the village. If we can dig there, then Goblin Grin'll have their own natural bathhouse. Consider it the first planned renovation for this place!"

"Ooooh~" Salu stared at the hole. "That sounds wonderful~"

"I don't like water too much… But I bet everyone else will love it, so I'll help dig the tunnel when you want!" Carlos said.

"Maybe we can work it on some tomorrow," Tik replied with a grin.

With that, the three mages tried to go to sleep. Tik fell asleep almost instantly, snoring softly and Salu was dead quiet, thinking about the days to come. Carlos tossed and turned and after about an hour passed, he sat up.

"Hey… Is anyone awake?" he asked a bit loudly.

Tik's snoring stopped and she groaned, but didn't respond. After a few seconds, her snoring started back up.

"I am… I can't sleep because I'm so excited," Salu said, sitting up as well now.

"I know. We're really mages now. We filled out the forms and have guild marks and everything," Carlos said, running his fingers over his guild mark again. "And we have a guild hall and awesome guild members!"

"You're so right! I love you and Tik so much already!" Salu said with a light giggle.

"Me, too!" Carlos said agreeably.

Tik groaned again. "Tik's not gonna love either of you if you don't get some sleep. Mages… Need… Sleep!" she grumbled out.

Carlos and Salu both giggled and fell back into their bedrolls. "Don't say that, Tik~" Salu responded.

"Yeah. We're too great for you not to love!" Carlos said, rolling over and smiling at her.

Tik let out a long sigh. "Get some sleep, you two…" she continued to grumble.

While both of the mages giggled again, they complied, falling into a comfortable silence before finally falling asleep.

* * *

The next morning, the mages were up bright and early, mostly thanks to Salu and Carlos, who seemed to wake up with no problems at all. Tik forced herself awake, let the other two mages take turns with the showers and then went to shower herself.

She came down to the smell of eggs and toast, as well as noises from the kitchen and walked in to see Salu cooking while Carlos was cleaning off his hands with a washcloth. Her eyes fell to Carlos's feet, where there was egg everywhere.

"You tried to crack an egg, didn'tcha?" she asked, rubbing the back of her head. Why would this kid think he could do something like that if he couldn't hold a pen without breaking it?

"It looked easy when Salu did it," Carlos reasoned.

Salu giggled. "He almost had it." What she didn't say was that her definition of "almost had it" meant that at least he got the egg opened.

Tik stretched. "Where'd you get food to cook?" she asked.

"I went to the store~ Someone in town had a cute little stall set up in the town square," Salu explained cheerfully. She then grabbed three plates and divided eggs, toast and jam between everyone. Tik helped her take the plates to the common room, where they sat together at a table to eat.

"What's the plan today, guild master?" Salu asked through her food.

"I wanted to head into the mountains to look for somewhere to call our trainin' grounds," Tik explained. "I'm sure there's a field somewhere around there where we can all practice our fighting skills." With that, she grinned. She was eager to train with someone soon.

"Sounds like fun," Carlos responded.

"I just hope we don't have to go up too high," Salu said, a bit of worry in her eyes.

"Don't worry 'bout it! I'm sure we won't have to," Tik said with a cocky grin.

* * *

They left the guild hall and headed into the mountains, with Carlos and Salu sticking close behind Tik as they walked.

The three chatted rather loudly about various things, mostly how tranquil the village was and how hospitable the people in it were. It was so warming and while there were a few skeptics that didn't want to hear anything about the guild, many of them were just as excited as the mages and made it clear that they would help in anyway needed.

Tik instantly cut the conversation when she heard something from the cliff above them; something that sounded like footsteps. Bright green magic surrounded her hands and she said in a rather arrogant voice, "Lemme handle this."

Salu stepped behind Carlos, while Carlos flashed Tik a grin that let her know that he had confidence in her.

Instead of walking the rest of the way up the trail, Tik jumped up, grabbed the ledge and pulled herself over it. Instantly, she was met with the tired gaze of a man.

Said man had messy black hair that was swept back to reveal his oval, dark brown eyes that were locked on her. He had tanned skin and was only an inch or so taller than her, with a lean, muscular build that was dressed in a striped, gray cardigan over a white t-shirt, black jeans that were held up by a black leather belt with a dull silver fox buckle and black low-cut boots. He had a black backpack over his shoulders.

"Good morning," he greeted formally, though his voice sounded just as tired as his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing up in the mountains like this?" Tik asked. Her magic materialized around her fists, turning into radioactively green acid that dripped and sizzled when it hit the ground.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said formally. His arms remained at his sides as he watched Tik. He then let out a sigh and averted his gaze, seeming like he didn't have time for her.

Tik glared at him. "Yeah, but I asked first. Now, answer my question unless you want your ass kicked!"

"I'm simply traveling… What is the harm in that?" the man responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "I didn't know there were other mages in this area, however. It has been a long while since I encountered one."

Tik continued to glare at him. "Why do you look so sad?" she eventually asked, finally figuring out what seemed off about him to her.

"I have my reasons," he responded, his eyes darkening for a moment. "I'm still trying to figure things out myself."

Tik didn't drop her guard, but she spoke in a slightly less harsh tones. "I won't ask about your past, but whatever it is, I'm sure wanderin' alone in the mountains ain't solvin' it."

"Maybe you're right," he responded. He then bowed his head slightly. "My name is Nyxus, by the way."

"I'm Tik, guild master of Goblin Grin." Tik said. She got the feeling that the man wasn't bad after all; just lost. In some prophetic bullshit way, but lost. She'd met plenty of people like that in her life and while she didn't understand it, she knew they usually weren't bad people. Some people just had things in their past that boggled them down… Or something like that.

"A guild master?" Nyxus asked, tilting his head. "Is this Goblin Grin currently recruiting?"

"Hell, yeah," Tik responded with a grin now. She was certain now that he wasn't bad. Besides, she would never be against getting another mage!

"Maybe you're right about wandering around not helping much… A guild would be a nice change of pace, I think. So, I would like to request to join your guild, Master Tik."

"Hell yes!" Tik seemed excited now. She dropped her magic and threw a fist into the air. "Goblin Grin has four members now! We're making hella progress!"

Nyxus smiled at her. "Such a small guild right now. I'm eager to meet the other two members."

"A'ight! Follow me!" Tik said. Nyxus was an odd change after recruiting Salu and Carlos. He was a bit more mature and his voice was softer. It made her think about what other kinds of members she would be getting soon.

She led Nyxus down the trail, where Carlos and Salu were waiting.

"A new person!" Carlos started before Tik could even speak. "Hi! I'm Carlos!" he greeted, running up to Nyxus and grabbing his hands.

"Greetings, Carlos… I'm Nyxus," Nyxus responded, a kind smile forming on his face. "And my, aren't you happy?"

"Yep! I love meeting people!" Carlos replied. "And you're really handsome!"

"Thank you."

"Hi, Nyxus, I'm Salu!" Salu greeted, walking up to him as well. "I hope we can be really great friends!"

"Greetings, Salu," he responded with another smile. "There is a lot of energy in this guild. It's refreshing."

"Yep!" Tik said. "Well. You two, welcome Nyxus to the guild! We're up to four members now!"

"Welcome~" Carlos and Salu greeted together.

"Thank you," Nyxus replied formally with a bow of his head.

"I'll give you your guild stamp and stuff when we get back," Tik started, placing her hands on her hips. "Right now, we're lookin' for a place to train!"

"I don't think that we were far from a good clearing," Nyxus responded. "Follow me."

The Goblin Grin members obeyed and Carlos skipped to catch up with him and bounce beside him. "So, what kind of magic do you use, Nyx?"

"Arc of Gems," he replied with a smile. "But I'm not perfect at it, so most of the time, the gems burst after a few seconds."

"I bet it's really pretty~" Salu commented.

"Yep! I can't wait to see it!" Carlos cheered.

They walked while Carlos asked all three of his guild mates various questions about their preferences, such as food and colors. There was a lot of various tastes in the guild. Tik preferred meat of any kind, Salu seemed to love sweets, especially chocolate and lollipops and Nyxus seemed to have more refined tastes in various teas and coffees.

Nyxus led them past the place where he had met Tik and into a small cluster of trees and up one smaller foothill, to a fairly large clearing, with only a few trees and shrubbery here and there.

"Would this work, Master?" Nyxus asked, stopping in the middle of the clearing.

"This is fuckin' perfect!" Tik said. There was plenty of room and no noticeably long drop-offs, meaning if someone was knocked off of the training grounds, they wouldn't fall very fall. There was even a small path across the clearing to a small overhang, where she could potentially oversee training sessions, if she wasn't involved with them, of course.

"Hey… Watch your language, master," Salu scolded a bit childishly.

Tik wrinkled her nose at the girl and then continued. "Alright… That settles it! This is the Goblin Grin official training grounds! It's only an hour away from the guild hall, so it ain't too far away and it's got plenty of space!"

"So… Should we train right now?" Carlos asked, bouncing on his feet.

"Sure! Let's do it!" Tik responded, her hands bursting in magic once more.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _There you have it folks! Three mages introduced. Though I'll be introducing Nyxus more next time. :3 Hope you all enjoyed lots! The training between those four will be shown at the beginning of next chapter~_

 _ **The Summit Project Notes (IMPORTANT; PLEASE READ ALL OF THEM!) :**_

 _ **-DEADLINE:**_ _We have decided that the deadline for people with reservations to get their application in will be MARCH 1_ _ST_ _! This should give everyone plenty of time to get their characters in, as that will be over a month to work on the app. Sorry about this, but we want to start planning and world building and all that fun stuff and we'd prefer to have all of the characters in first._

 _ **-OC LIMIT EXPANSION:**_ _Yep. You guys can now have a total of 3 OCs in the project, preferably all from a different guild. So, if you've sent OCs to two of us, you can send OCs to one more of us! However, please remember that my slots are COMPLETELY filled and MyDearWatson (Seahorse Crest) has very limited slots left. Origm2012 (Ragnarok's Call) and Dreadburner94 (God Hand) still have quite a few slots opened, so if you haven't sent an OC to one of them, feel free to go reserve a slot with them! Please remember to read the info on their profiles and use their forms~_

 _ **-SLOTS FILLED:**_ _I mentioned this above, but in case you didn't catch it, Goblin Grin is full for now. I'm not accepting anymore characters unless a reservation was made and I'm not accepting anymore reservations, either. I'll open slots later, most likely, so stay tuned if you want to submit to me!_

 _ **-TO PEOPLE WITH RESERVATIONS FOR GOBLIN GRIN:**_ _Please check restrictions on my profile! I don't want Gravity/Vibration/Electromagnetic/Floaty-stuff/etc. Magic and I don't want any more really cheery/upbeat/innocent/happy/bubbly characters! I'm going to be really strict on the latter restriction. I simply WILL NOT accept any more characters with this type. I'm sorry. It won't mesh well and it won't be any fun for readers who don't like those types of characters. Send me some crazy or brooding characters or tomboys, super-determined characters. Or highly intelligent, super-quiet. Something along those lines._

 _ **Credits:**_

 _-Carlos – puffypuffin3_

 _-Salu – TheLonelyAnon_

 _-Nyxus - Zades_

 _ **Questions:**_

 _-How are you guys enjoying it so far? Got any favorites yet? Any suggestions? Creators, how'd I do?_

 _ **Next Chapter Preview:**_

 _Watch Nyxus, Carlos, Salu and Tik train and then meet 3-4 new Goblin Grin mages! The next chapter will probably be out within two weeks~_

 _ **Review Responses**_

 _As always, thank you guys so much for the reviews! Lots of love from me and I appreciate every single review! If you haven't read my fics before, you should know that I like to be interactive, so please, feel free to message me or leave reviews with questions. Anything like that. Lots of love! 3_

 _-Dreadburner94 – Thank you~ Tik is really fun to write!_

 _-Momochan77 – I'm happy that you're looking forward to it~ Goblin Grin will have lots of interesting mages. :3_

 _-Meteorthunder3 – No problems~ Read them in any order you want. :3 And I adore writing with original characters~ 3 And yeah. A lot of planning goes into scenes like that, but they are so much fun! It will hopefully give readers an odd level of anticipation, getting to see all angles to the guilds. :3_

 _-XLil MEkoX – I'm happy you're looking forward to it~ Thank you so much!_

 _-TheLonelyAnon – She is! But that was intentional. And I'm interested to show how she acts to people who are older than her. And yeah, I'm trying my best to convey that Poppy Village is a little sleepy town, sort of like something you would see out of Harvest Moon. And yes, Goblin Grin shall rise!_

 _-KingKatsu – Thank you so much and that means a lot to me! I hope the project doesn't disappoint! :3_

 _-Resmesh – It is quite the challenge, but bold moves are how Tik rolls! I'm happy you're looking forward to the project. :3_

 _-potentialauthor18 – I'm happy you like the flavor of the guild. I kinda think that a lot of the characters for Goblin Grin are darker outcasts or free-spirited wanderers, and that was what I was going for, I think. Thank you~_

 _-ColdBurn-3 – I'm really happy you're looking forward to the collab. And thank you so much! I'm happy you like Goblin Grin._

 _-madmissY01 – Thank you~ It was something that was mentioned to me a couple of times, but we finally made it happen. :3 I'm happy you're looking forward to it._

 _-FrozenBlast13 – It is definitely going to have lots of interesting development. All three of the other authors in this project are awesome, so you should have no fear in working with them and you should definitely read their works. And with the smaller town and guild hall, I was aiming a lot for progress with this story and hopefully that will show later in the story~ Thank you~_

 _-Archanea – Thank you~ And yeah. We got our plans together for it fairly quickly, I think. And I agree~ Hopefully it will be quite amazing. :3 I'm happy you like Goblin Grin~_

 _-Ogrespi – Yep~ Four stories were all posted around the same time. I don't know if we'll always post together, though. O3O we'll have to see how it goes. And I'm happy Tik is growing on so many people. And building a guild is quite interesting and fun. I love planning progress milestones for the guild. :3_

 _-Death Obelisk – Thank you so much~ I don't know if the updates will always be at the same time, but we'll see. :3 I'm happy you're looking forward to the story so much. :3_

 _-AkumaXHwaorang – Yeah, we got our thoughts together fairly quickly. It will be one hell of a project~ So much fun! It will be epic~_

 _-Sakura-Fiction – I agree that this is quite awesome~ I'm having so much fun with it. :3 We got our thoughts together fast. :3 I'm happy you're looking forward to it._

 _-MyDearWatson – Thank you and I'm happy you like Tik~ I think that's what I was going for with her. She's just a goof! :3_

 _-Taiyoko – Thank you~_

 _-Hikari-Chimedekina-Neko – Thank you so much~ And collabs are lots of fun! 3 I'm happy you like Tik, too~ Thank you for the OC~_

 _-Ikariko – I'm so happy that you're so excited~ We love seeing all the excitement for the project and how well-received it is~_

 _-Origm2012 – Thank you~ Tik has no control button. She yells a lot. My guild is very loud. O3O Poor mages that like peace and quiet. TwT_


	3. Mechanics, Poison and Vizen

**August 17** **th** **, X799, 10AM: Goblin Grin Training Grounds**

"So… How are we gonna do this?" Carlos asked. He had already removed his jacket and gloves and was bouncing on his heels, his arms catching in the light of the summer sun. The four Goblin Grin mages had agreed to have a training session at the newly claimed Goblin Grin training grounds and now they were debating on how to start.

"We'll, we've got four people, so we could do tag teams," Salu suggested with a small smile on her face. "It think that would be lots of fun~" she added with a giggle.

"Would that be fair, though?" Nyxus asked. "One of us would get to work beside the guild master. Surely there would be an imbalance."

"Tch," Tik stepped forward, pounding her fist into the palm of her other hand, a devious smirk dancing on her face. "Why don't you three jus' try to take me on, then?"

"That doesn't sound fair, either, though!" Carlos protested with a frown on his face. "Then there are three of us and only one of you."

"She is a guild master, though. Logic would state that she is much stronger than us," Nyxus pointed out. Or at least that was what he was hoping for. Really, he had no proof that there was any kind of strength test to being a guild master. He could see that Tik was confident, though, so it gave him confidence.

"Damn straight!" Tik gloated. "So, hit me with your best shot!"

"Okay!" Carlos grinned. With that, the boy hopped across the battlefield, large holes in his hands bursting with pale blue magic as he reared back. In a quick motion, he fired a bright laser at Tik.

Tik jumped back and as she was in the air, she chanted, "Hazard Magic: Level 1!" Her cheeks swelled and she blew out a cloud of dark green smoke that covered the training grounds. When she heard the coughing from inside of it, she shot forward and gathered a ball of radioactive green acid in her hand, throwing it into the smog in the direction of the only feminine cough.

Salu had been thrown off quite a bit by the smog and was in the process of covering her mouth when Tik attacked her.

Luckily for her, Nyxus had noticed the incoming attack-which had stood out against the darkness of the smog and he cast a crystalline maroon magical circle in front of her, the seal having an eight-point star on the front of it. Just as the acid drew closer, a crystalline wall appeared, shattering on impact and causing Salu to cry out in surprise and inhale even more of the smog.

Carlos targeted Tik, facing his palms downward and firing wind and exhaust out of them, clearing some of the smog and then propelling himself forward in a swift dash. Tik didn't have time to react when she landed on the ground, as Carlos was on her, slamming a metallic fist into her abdomen and swirling around so that he threw her towards his team with the punch. "Yay! I like fighting!" He cheered, once again appearing like an overexcited puppy.

Tik coughed and stumbled back. "Damn metal arms," she exhaled out. She heard a high pitched ring and managed to duck in just enough time to dodge two throwing knives that were coming her way.

Carlos, however, didn't have time to dodge when the knives flew past Tik and towards him. He covered his face with his arms, not feeling a thing when the two knives bounced off of the metal of his arms with a horrendous metal-on-metal screeching noise.

"I'm so sorry!" Salu called out. "T-to both of you!" She looked worried about them.

"You shouldn't be sorry about me!" Tik said, hopping up. She jumped back and landed, getting some distance between her and the three mages. "However, ya need to watch out for your team more!"

"I know… I'm sorry!" She cried, burying her face into her hands.

"It's okay! I'm not hurt!" Carlos said, showing her his arms. The only sign that he had even been hit with the knives was two small scratches on his outer forearm.

Salu looked up from her hands and when she saw that, she smiled brightly. "Okay~ What a relief!"

Nyxus took advantage of the fact that Tik was distracted by the conversation between the two cheerful mages and he shot forward. "Arc of Gems: Shinigami Slash!" he called out as a magic circle appeared at his fingertips and produced dual, onyx scythe heads connected by a diamond chain. He swung them as he moved and closed the distance between himself and Tik.

Tik noticed him and hopped back again. "Hazard Magic: Level 3!" She called out as a large, radioactive green magic circle that took up most of the gap between herself and Nyxus appeared. It dissipated into a huge puddle of steaming, bubbling acid.

The moment Nyxus made contact with the acid, it bubbled up around his leg and burned through his pants and shoe. He winced and jumped back. He felt the scythe cracking in his hand and not knowing what else to do, he threw it at Tik, only to have it shatter into black and white sparkles before it reached her. He stumbled back, staring at the burns that were swelling up on his leg.

"So awesome!" Carlos cheered, clapping his hands together in a sort of awkward, clunky way. He then paused, confusion on his face. "But... Now I can't punch you! So, I'll have to do this!" He held his hand to the sky and gathered magic in the palm. The magic hardened into a bright blue sphere that he threw at Tik.

Tik hopped out of the way, only to be staggered by the explosion from the bomb that Carlos had thrown.

"Reverberation Magic: Sonic Blast!" Salu casted as her magic seal appeared a few feet in front of her. She threw her palms forward and with a ground shaking "BOOM!" Tik was hit and sent flying by an impact that sent paint through her body.

Nyxus chanted, "Arc of Gems: Crystal Storm!" and before Tik could recover from the first two attacks, she was pelted by a flurry of gems that burst on impact, causing small lacerations all over her body.

"DAMMIT!" she snapped, somehow managing to land on her feet. "Alright, time to play for real! Hazard Magic: Level 5!" She called out as she shot both of her palms for. With the appearance of a seal, she began to fire compact streams of acid at the three mages.

All three of them managed to dodge the initial bursts, but when she fired again, Carlos had to block with one of his arms, Salu was hit in the shoulder by the jet and Nyxus summoned his crystalline shield to take the shot again.

"Owwie…" Salu mumbled, wincing as her shoulder was burned by the acid. She looked down to see blisters forming. "That really hurt, Tik!" she called out, tears forming in her eyes.

"It actually did damage?" Carlos asked, looking at his forearm, which now had a large hole in it. "I'll have to find some materials to fix it," he said.

"Your magic is destroying the training grounds," Nyxus pointed out. There was a large patch of missing grass where Tik had created the field of acid earlier and streaks of missing grass from the acid that had been aimed at them.

"Eh… It'll be destroyed soon enough anyway," Tik said with a shrug. She then turned to Salu and Carlos. "I think that does it!" She walked over to Salu, who was now sobbing and placed a hand on her uninjured shoulder. "My bad. You ain't fought much, have ya?"

"Not lots of magic, no…" Salu admitted. "Your magic is really mean!"

Tik frowned and looked from Salu to Nyxus-who had went down on one knee because it was hard to stand on his injured leg, to Carlos-who was poking at the hole in his arm. A drop of sweat traveled down her forehead. Back in God Hand, most of the people she trained with were good at dodging or good at taking hits… Even hits that burned. She had never really trained with people who weren't around her skill-level. She hadn't even gone above Level 5 with her spells, either. "Yep. I dunno how to train people," she said with a shrug.

"So, you won't be training your mages?" Nyxus asked.

"Nope. I'll train you guys if y'all want," Tik continued. "But I can't make my magic not hurt, y'know?"

"It didn't hurt me!" Carlos said with a grin. "I don't feel pain in my arms!"

"It does hurt lots," Salu said. She stepped forward with a small sigh. "B-but I still want to train with you, Tik. You're probably really strong and your magic is really hard to fight. But if we can beat you, that means we're strong, too, right?"

"Yep," Tik said. She stretched. It wasn't like they hadn't hurt her. She had a bruise on her stomach to go along with the bruise on her back from Carlos's hug, and she had a bunch of little cuts all over her body. Her muscles were sore, too. She was just pretty okay with pain. She loved fighting, after all. "You all need to work on pain tolerance… Though. If this woulda been a serious fight, the enemy wouldn't have stopped fightin' jus' 'cause you started cryin'."

"I know…" Salu said, dropping her eyes to the ground.

"Tch," Tik let out another sigh. She wasn't good at this profound, encouraging shit. What would her grandma do in this situation? Or someone like Nero? Thinking about Nero brought his smug face back into her head and before she realized what she was doing, she gathered up a large mass of acid in her palm and slammed it into the ground away from the mages, burning a smoldering hole under herself. Fuck what Nero would do! Goblin Grin was HER guild! She was going to do this HER way! When she discovered what her way was. Stupid poetical bullshit!

"Tik?" Carlos stared at the steam rising from the ground. "You look really mad. But your muscles are really pretty right now!"

"That's weird, kid!" Tik snapped. She then sighed and ran an acid covered hand through her hair, which didn't affect her at all. "Let's head back to Poppy. We're gonna find some medical supplies and train again tomorrow."

"Okay~" Carlos said happily. He then turned to Nyxus and Salu. "You two are spectacular, too! I can't wait to see you guys fight more!"

"Hehe~ Yeah," Salu said. Carlos's words seemed to perk her up a bit.

"Thank you," Nyxus said. He had been calm throughout the fight and now that it was over, he still looked sort of somber, especially compared to his teammates. He waited until both of them had started following Tik before he followed behind them. He hadn't managed to do much with his magic and it bothered him.

* * *

The mages made their way back to town and when Tik saw how all of the traffic on the roads seemed to be directed towards the town square, she grinned. "The market must be open today!" she cheered. She had a bit of extra jewel after working around with Carlos and the market was one of the best ways to get food. And they could probably get some medical supplies for Salu and Nyxus while they were at it. And see if anyone knew anything about a mechanic for Carlos.

"The market?" Salu asked, tilting her head. Her eyes then lit up with sparkles. "I wonder if they'll have chocolate~"

"Chocolate sounds nice right now! I like food!" Carlos cheered.

"I think sweets would be pleasant," Nyxus said, looking around the town. He hadn't been in town yet so he kept close to his guild. "This town is so small…" he added.

"Isn't it adorable~?" Salu asked. "I love it!"

"Me, too!" Carlos chipped in.

"Yeah. It grows on you… I guess," Tik said. "Not the same as Gladiolus for sure." She still wasn't used to not seeing towering buildings. Or the clock tower. She mostly missed the clock tower-NO! She didn't miss anything. She was her own mage now. Fuck her old guild.

They made their way into the town square, which had market stalls set up everywhere. Carlos and Salu instantly ran to a nearby bakery stall, while she and Nyxus stuck together.

"What are we doing, Master Tik?" Nyxus asked, sticking close to her. He didn't know where the guild hall was so getting lost from them wouldn't be good for him.

"Medical supplies," Tik answered, finding her way to a stall that was ran by a traveling doctor, who greeted them with a polite smile and then went right back to helping other customers while they looked.

"Not to offend, but you seem quite rugged for a guild master," Nyxus said. Tik shot him a glare, but he didn't notice since he was looking down at the contents of the stall. He continued to speak, "but I can already tell you care about the guild." While everyone else was concerned with foods, Tik had went straight to medical supplies for the injured members.

"Of course," Tik said, taking a medium-sized medical kit and paying for it. "You guys are a part o' my guild. I gotta look after y'all."

Nyxus's lips quirked like he may actually smile, but her next sentence made him frown.

"And I'll gladly melt anyone who fucks with y'all," she added with a devious smirk.

"Master, please watch your language~!" Salu called out. She and Carlos both had small bags of various fruits and sweets in their hands. "It makes you sound really bad when you use such mean words!"

"I think it makes her sound tough! She looks like she's supposed to be tough, too!" Carlos said in her defense.

"It's mean, though!"

"Salu, I ain't nice," Tik said with a shrug. "And I rightfully don't give a damn if I sound mean."

Salu pouted at her, but didn't say anything else about the matter. She took out a large chocolate bar and broke it into four pieces. "Here you go~" She said, handing out three of the pieces and then keeping one for herself.

"Thanks," Tik and Nyxus responded together.

"You're so sweet, Salu! You're gonna give me cavities!" Carlos complimented her.

Tik noticed a stall that was selling gardening tools and stopped at it. "Do you know anything about a mechanic or something around here?" she asked. She figured if they sold metal tools, they may know something about people who dealt with metal. It wasn't that illogical, was it?

"Oh, you haven't heard?" The woman behind the stand asked. Her name was Winona and she ran the Muffin General Store of Poppy Village. Tik recognized the older, chubby woman with lots of freckles and graying brown hair. "Ms. Sorne opened up her smithy yesterday. If you're looking for any kind of metalwork, she's your gal She can work with mechanical stuff, too!"

"We have a blacksmith now?" Tik asked. That sounded useful. She would probably eventually get some mages who were good with weapons and maybe they could go there.

"Yep…" The woman responded. She then laughed. "My… My… Poppy is growing. It makes me happy! I never thought I would get to see the day…!"

"It's gonna keep growing! 'Cause Goblin Grin is here now!" Carlos announced cheekily.

Winona laughed lightly. "I do hope so… I would love to see many, many more travelers come to the village. Though a little old woman like myself may have to hire the help of some cute mages around the general store…"

"We're always here! Until we get so big that we have all the missions coming in!" Tik said with a grin.

Winona chuckled. "I'll be awaiting the day… Oh… and Sorne's Smithy is just a few feet away from your guild hall, across the street."

"Thank you, ma'am," Nyxus said with a small bow of his head.

The rest of the mages said their thanks and then headed away from the market and back down the southern street in search of Sorne's Smithy.

It took them no time at all to find the small white building with peeling paint and a fading black roof. There was a wooden sign hanging out beside the door with an anvil and hammer on it, so there was no mistaken the building.

The door was opened, so the four mages walked into a rather cramped storefront. There was a small electrical buzzing when they walked. In front of them was a counter with a cash register with a small rack displaying chainmail jewelry, to their left was some crates with everyday tools from watering cans and shovels to pots and pans and to their right was a display with armor, weapons and other combat gear. Overall, the building was pretty typical to Poppy, with wooden walls and flooring and a quaint feeling to it.

"Good afternoon," a tired female voice spoke from a doorway that led into the rest of the building. From said doorway walked a woman of 5'7'' height, with a muscular, darkly tanned build and sharp facial features. She had really messy, short ashy gray hair that was cut unevenly and arched, dark gray eyes that had circles under them, making her look exhausted. She was dressed rather simply in a white tank-top that looked like it has some ash stains on it under a dark brown vest, along with black cargo pants that were tucked into black, knee-high combat boots. Thick, brown leather work gloves covered her hands and there were currently a pair of tinted, brown and black work goggles on top of her head.

Carlos was the first to speak. "Hi, Ms. Sorne! Pleasure to meet you!" He ignored the woman's unamused blinking and continued. "I'm looking for some scrap metal, preferably of a darker shade, to purchase. And maybe a set of rentable tools!"

"Okay… What do you need 'em for?" the woman, Sorne, asked, tilting her head and folding her arms over her chest.

"Oh," Carlos quickly pulled off his jacket again and showed her the large hole in his metallic arm, which he could see right through. "I need to fix my arm!"

Sorne gawked for a few seconds before she shook her head, obviously dismissing the fact that it wasn't every day that she dealt with someone with metal arms. "I should have somethin' to fix ya right up," she said. "Just give me a moment, okay?" She then vanished back into the back again for a few seconds.

"She looks tired. I hope she's okay," Salu commented worriedly.

"Setting up a new building ain't fun," Tik said with a shrug. She and Nyxus were both looking at the weapons. She picked up a small, simple short sword from a weapon rack and held in her hand. She was never much of one for weapons, so it felt odd to her. "Maybe I should take up a weapon to help train mages with weapons…" She commented.

"I have considered purchasing one myself," Nyxus commented. "My magic can be quite unstable and having a weapon would be reassuring on a mission."

"Sorne is really talented~" Salu commented, looking around. "I wonder if she made everything by herself."

"Yep," Sorne responded, returning with a few sheets of metal and a small bag of tools. "Forged it all myself over the past couple o' years. Impressed?"

"You're amazing~" Salu commented.

"I bet you've got tons of guys falling for you! Maybe I could be one of them!" Carlos flirted in a rather cheesy manner, a cheeky grin on his face.

Sorne wrinkled her nose. "No, thank you," she said. She then set everything on the counter. "Sure you don't need help?"

"Nope," Carlos said, pulling out a jewel pouch and fumbling with it. "The person who gave me my arms taught me how to repair most parts of them, and the forearm is the part that gets damaged the most so I can do it!"

Sorne shrugged and rang him up. She then watched them all for a few seconds. "You guys are from the local guild, right? Goblin Grin, isn't it?"

"Yep," Tik said with a huge, cocky grin. "Why? Need some work? Lookin' to join?"

"Neither," Sorne said. "Though, if you need much of any help with anything, lemme know. This town is peaceful and I like it, but it isn't too good for the business, y'know?"

"Totally understand," Tik said with a small frown. "Why would you come to a place like this for business when you got Narcissus just a few days away?"

"I like the quiet life or some bullshit like that," Sorne responded lazily.

Salu puffed out her cheeks and Tik chuckled.

"Watch blondie here. She doesn't like bad words," she said, placing a hand on Salu's head. "Not that I give a damn. She'll adjust."

Salu huffed. "So mean!" she pouted.

"Do you use magic?" Carlos asked.

"Are you just gonna ask everyone that?" Tik instantly questioned. He'd only really questioned two people, but it was still a random question, considering they were in a town where magic wasn't as common.

"Yep~ It's the best way to find mages, right?" Carlos started. "So, do you?" He asked, turning back to Sorne.

"I do," she said. She then pointed to one of the sheets of metal on the counter and when she lifted her finger, it slowly lifted up. "Electromagnetism. Or Electromag as I like to say. Really useful for someone like me. Sucks near water, though."

"I'm not any good near water, either!" Carlos said. He then smirked. "Maybe we're meant for each other! You could draw my hand right to yours!"

"Hmph. Interesting… But dumb…" Sorne responded, her brows furrowing. She was certain that Carlos was a good bit younger than her and she had no interest in romance with the boy.

"Your magic is really neat!" Salu commented. "I bet it's fun to work with."

"Don't mind these two and their showers of compliments," Tik said, placing her free arm on top of Carlos's head now and leaning on the two mages. "I'm sure they got a compliment for every situation. But, your magic is fuckin' rad, so if you… Y'know, ever wanna become a mage for a livin', we ain't far away!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Sorne said, taking jewel from Carlos and handing over the metal and tools. "Have them back within a week, otherwise you owe me! And sign this." She pushed a small slip of paper and pen towards Carlos.

He looked down and read over it before taking the pen and almost instantly this time, snapping it in two. "Um… Oops…" he said with a small laugh.

Sorne stared for a moment before shaking her head again. "Whatever. It's cool. Just sign the paper. It's just statin' that you'll get my tools back to me by next week."

Carlos complied and then stood. "Thank you so much, Ms. Sorne! I really hope you'll join our guild one day! You're really wonderful!"

"Hm. Maybe," Sorne replied with a shrug.

* * *

 **August 24** **th** **, X799, 2PM: Goblin Grin Guild Hall**

Over a week passed with no sign of anyone else joining Goblin Grin. Still, though, it seemed like Poppy had picked up a little bit of tourism. One more shop had joined the usual end of the week market and people had been stating that business had been very gradually picking up. Whether it was due to Goblin Grin's founding or Sorne's Smithy opening, or both, was a mystery. Nyxus, Carlos, and Salu had settled into the guild, with Nyxus getting his guild mark over his left hip in a dark maroon color. Additionally, the mages had healed from the first training session, but Tik was still covered in bruises from sparring with Carlos. Carlos had also paid for another week with the tools so that he could tinker with his arms some more. He also spent time with Sorne on slower days as he liked mechanical work in general.

Apart from helping around the town, the mages hadn't managed to get any work, but just helping around the town and saving up had helped. They had a good amount of food in the kitchen and didn't have to work for food from the Sprout Café anymore. Apart from food, though, the guild hall hadn't changed at all. All four of the Goblin Grin mages remained hopeful that change would happen and was just a really slow process.

They were all lounging around after a small training session currently. Carlos was tinkering with his arm, adding some more metal to weaker points in it, Salu was sitting across from Carlos in a booth with him, currently reading a book of song lyrics to get inspiration of her own for lyrics, Nyxus was sitting at a table nearby with a mystery novel that he had picked up from the market and Tik was sitting across from him, doing absolutely nothing.

Everyone froze when there was a loud knocking on the door, though.

"I wonder if that's Sorne telling us she wants to join?" Carlos pondered, hopping up. He had still been hopeful that the smithy mechanic would join them one day, though she still didn't seem to have much interest in it. "I'll get it, though!" He bounded over to the door with a piece of metal that had not been welded yet hanging from his arm. He opened the door to be faced with someone who was not Sorne.

In fact, the person was not even the same gender of Sorne, being a young man who stood at 5'9'' with a lean, rather average build. He had fair white skin, slanted, onyx colored eyes, and messy, unruly black hair with a few strands sticking up at the top and a prominent fringe across his forehead. His hair stopped just above his shoulders. There was a thin scar running horizontally across the bridge of his nose. He was dressed in a brown kimono that left the left side of his torso exposed, but under the kimono was a bronze-plated, black chest plate that coiled up his neck and left his shoulder exposed. His forearm was covered by a black armguard with a white cuff and there was a wide white sash that looped around the left side of his body and tied at the right hip, leaving white cloth hanging over his puffy, black pants, which tucked into black ankle boots.

"So cool… You have a scar! And I love your outfit!" Carlos commented.

"Is Tik here?" The man asked in a quiet, deep voice, not seeming to pay much mind to Carlos's compliments.

Tik stood when she heard the voice, staring down at the table for a few seconds before she shot across the room and tackled the man, hugging him tightly. "Fuckin' hey, man!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Ack. Get off of me, you fiend," he mumbled, his face pressed into her bosom. "You're sweaty. So gross…. Please…"

While Nyxus remained in his seat, Salu was curious and had skipped over, standing in the doorway with Carlos.

"You know him, Master Tik?" Carlos asked.

Tik let go of the man and grinned, slapping him on the back so hard he stumbled. "Damn straight. This is Dylan! And he was a good ol' rival of mine back in God Hand!" She then froze and glared at Dylan. "Did that son of bitch Nero send you? Tell him to go to hell if he did!"

Dylan sighed and rubbed his back. "No… I left God Hand."

"Really?" Tik blinked. "Why?"

"I hate Nero. I hate the changes. I wanted to leave."

"Does that mean you're here to join us?" Carlos asked, practically developing a tail to wag it at the boy. He had come outside with Tik and Dylan now and was staring at Dylan with puppy dog eyes.

"I am, yes," Dylan responded, making Tik's jaw drop. "I heard you up and left and I thought that was just enough motive to leave, too. I respect you a hell of a lot more as a guild master than that good-for-nothing bastard, even if I can kick your ass."

"Nero's not that b-" Tik started and then her eye twitched. No, she wouldn't defend him! "Yeah, you're right! Not about the ass-kicking, though! I got six years on you, boy! I can take you down any day of the week!"

"Tch. You speak though you're already covered in bruises."

"That's because this kid has no self-control!" Tik said, shoving her fist into Carlos's hair and messing it up. "He hits like fuckin' truck with those arms!" She was bruised up, but that was common. The sad thing was that most of them were from hugs, not actual sparring. She wouldn't admit that, though.

Carlos laughed. "'Cause I'm super-strong!"

"You guys have such mean mouths," Salu pouted. Her face then lit up. "But are we really getting another member again~?"

"Looks that way," Dylan responded. "My name is Dylan, in case you didn't get that."

"I'm Salu~ And Nyxus is in there, too!" Salu said.

"I'm Carlos!" Carlos said. "And once you've met Nyxus, you've met us all!"

"Haven't gotten that many members, yet?" Dylan asked. "I guess it'll be quiet sometimes, at least…"

"That's wishful thinking with these two around," Tik said with a laugh. "Plus, you know I don't like the quiet!"

"I guess it's also wishful thinking to hope that you'd mellow out with being a guild master, also?" Dylan mumbled, following the group into the building.

Once again, Tik gave the tour of the guild hall and once again gave someone the guild mark, Dylan's being white and on his left shoulder. Unlike the rest of the mages, Dylan didn't give a straightforward answer as to where he would be staying for the time being. He said he'd do whatever he felt like. After the tour, Tik plopped down on top of one of the tables, while Dylan sat in a chair at the table and Carlos and Salu sat at the booth where Carlos had been working on his arm earlier.

Tik looked around for about a good minute before she tilted her head. "The fuck is Nyxus?"

Nyxus instantly poked his head out from in the kitchen. "I'm making tea for everyone. I think it would be good after such an excited day."

"Oh," Tik said. "Thanks," she added.

"So, Dylan-"

"He's a Poison God Slayer, kid," Tik said, knowing what was coming from Carlos next.

"A slayer?" Carlos and Salu spoke in unison. "Wow!"

Dylan looked at them like they were crazy for a moment, but then sighed, a small smile on his face, though it was hidden by the fact that he was resting his chin on the palm of his hand. "You two… Sure are rays of sunshine…"

"That's an understatement," Tik said with a laugh. "They're determined and already like the guild, so what more could I ask for?"

"Understandable…" Dylan said. He then stood. "Tik, you really don't know how to keep things organized, do you?" The guild hall didn't really look that bad, though. He was speaking about the fact that many of the tables were positioned crookedly or had chairs that were left only halfway pushed under. He got up and began to tidy up.

"Do you need help?" Salu asked, standing.

"I got it," Dylan responded.

Tik smiled at him. "It's nice to have someone familiar in the guild," she said, falling back on the table and looking over to him. "Even if does have to be a punk like you."

Dylan only snorted in response.

* * *

Later that night, once Nyxus had ventured off to Cumulus Inn and Tik, Carlos and Salu had went down to the wine cellar to go to sleep, Dylan fell asleep in one of the booths. He hadn't necessarily meant to, but he had been enjoying the quietness of the guild hall and dozed off. Tik really had picked a pretty unknown town to make the guild in. He wondered why.

The poisonous slayer had been asleep for a couple of hours when a loud knock was heard at the door. He snorted and shot awake. "The fuck…?" he said. He squinted at a clock that was on the wall near the hall to the restroom to see that it was three in the morning. "Seriously? The fuck…?" he mumbled, getting up. Dark black and purple magic surrounded one of his hands as he got up and walked over to the door.

He opened it and out of shock, his jaw dropped.

In front of him stood a huge man who stood near eight feet tall with dark, reddish tanned skin and lots of muscles. He had long, silky black hair that was pulled into a low braid and large, dark blue eyes with thick brows over them. His ears were large and pointed, resembling an elf. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of black shorts and slippers and there was an odd mark over his left pectoral.

Dylan quickly gained his composure and shook his head. "What do you want at this time of night?" he asked.

"Oh… This is a guild?" the man asked. "A mage's guild?"

"Yeah," Dylan responded. "Why? Is there trouble somewhere?"

"No. Well, yes. There is always trouble somewhere, but I am here to join. Is little man the master of this place?"

"No," Dylan responded. "I'll… Go get her…"

"Thank you."

Dylan disappeared into the guild hall and quickly rushed to get Tik, waking the hazard mage up in a jiffy and being careful not to wake the two cheerful mages. They were tiny and for some reason, he had it in his head that they would probably be scared of the man. Heck, he was pretty intimidating. Dylan would gladly fight him if needed, though.

"What the hell, Dylan?" Tik groaned and she followed him sort of absentmindedly. She was too sleepy to really argue much.

"There's a guy that wants to join…."

"In the middle of…" She yawned as she climbed up the ladder behind him. "…The night?"

"Yeah."

Tik was rubbing her eyes as she walked across the room to the doorway, so she didn't see the man until she got right up on him. "Holy fuck!" she gawked, stepping back. "You're fuckin' huge!"

"Yes," the man agreed. "Are you the master?"

"Ah… Yeah," Tik said, not even mustering her signature cocky grin. She was too tired for this. Was she dreaming?

"My name is Auroch Corvin. I would like to join this guild," the man, Auroch, explained.

"Are… Are you even human?" she asked, her eyes on his ears now. Definitely dreaming, right?

"Tik, that's rude," Dylan commented. However, his eyes turned to dots when Auroch spoke again.

"I am not," Auroch said. "I am of Vizen blood."

"The hell's a Vizen?" Tik asked.

"Hm… We are of elf and giant blood, little master," Auroch explained.

"I can see the giant… That's for sure," Tik said, rubbing her eyes again. "And what kind of magic o you use?"

"Not magic!" Auroch quickly snapped, causing Tik to jump. His voice was deep and loud. "Divination. I am of the Divination of Demetion… Earth and Order. I control them. Not magic."

"So… You use Earth? And what the hell is order?" Tik was utterly confused. She didn't have enough sleep to deal with this right now.

"We use our ties to nature to fight," Auroch explained. "Order is order. Structure in the world. Boundaries. Discipline."

"O-okay…" TIk said, stretching. "You can join. Come on in and I'll get everything set up. Is it okay if I give you the tour in the morning?"

"Yes, little master," Auroch responded, following her in. He then turned to Dylan, who had pretty much been staring at him this entire time. "Little man… You stare hard. Are you okay?"

"Ah, my bad… Yeah," Dylan said, turning away. He wasn't sure that he wasn't dreaming. The man didn't look human. Hell, he wasn't human, right? Vizen, was it? He had never heard of it. He wanted to ask questions… But he didn't know where to start. So, he just sat back down in the booth that he had been sleeping in.

"The furniture is probably too small for you," Tik admitted, coming back downstairs with a stamp and folder. She looked more alert now. "Maybe Carlos can build ya somethin'."

"I can do it," Auroch said. He then walked to the far corner of the room, near the booth and opposite to the counter and placed his hand on the ground. The area began to glow with a faint, lime green magic the wall shook for a few seconds before a large, earthen bench burst through it, taking up a good portion of the wall. It fit tightly into the wall, leaving no gap for air to travel into the guild from it.

"Oh… That works…" Tik said, while Dylan just watched blankly. Both of them seemed to be emotionally numb at that moment. Maybe they had both given up on reacting to him. Maybe they both still thought they were dreaming. However, once the gears slowly turned in Tik's head and she remembered the project downstairs, she shot over to him, placing her hands on his huge biceps. "I need you for something…." She breathed, her eyes sparkling similar to Carlos's or Salu's.

"Okay," Auroch said, seemingly unfazed by the guild master.

"But first, where do you want your guild mark and what color?" Tik asked.

Auroch pointed to the odd mark that was on his chest and Tik nodded. "Black, please."

"What's this mark?" she asked as she pressed the stamp to his pectoral.

"Something from my past. It is of no concern anymore," Auroch replied.

Tik accepted that as an answer and shrugged. She then handed him a pen and the folder. "I need you to fill this out."

Auroch took the folder and pen, opened it and then stared for a good five minutes while silence filled the air. Eventually, he spoke and admitted slowly… "I cannot read, little master."

"Wh-?" Tik blinked. She was confused. "But… How?" she asked naively.

"Not everyone gets to learn how to, Tik," Dylan explained dryly. That was something that he had forgotten about Tik. Strong mage or not, her grandmother had did a wonderful job sheltering her.

"Not… getting…" It didn't register to Tik at first, but then it hit her and she frowned. "That… must suck…" was all she managed to muster, taking the folder from him. Now, she was wondering why he hadn't gotten to learn how to read. She wasn't one to ask people about their pasts… But for some reason Dylan's statement made her realize that maybe… not everyone had grown up with parental figures. The people in God Hand…? Many of them… Her face fell.

Dylan sighed. "And she's having a mental breakdown, now." He stood and took the folder from her. "I'll help him with this, Tik. Maybe you should go… Rest?"

"I hope you are okay," Auroch said, watching Tik warily.

Tik shook her head and grinned. "I'm fine!" she said, waving it off. "I was just thinkin' about some things, but I'm done now!" She wasn't the type to let things get her down and there was no sense in her being upset, she thought.

Dylan helped him with the form, asking him questions and then writing all of the answers in the blanks and handing over the forms. "So… Where is he going to sleep?" he asked.

Tik blinked, thinking for a moment. "I can put a bunch of the bedrolls together," she said. She then looked around. "You don't have any belongings?" Everyone else who had joined at least had a backpack with them when they joined. He had nothing.

"No," Auroch answered. "I do not need many belongings."

"Well, follow me," Tik said, leading Auroch over to the latch that led into the cellar. Instantly, she paused and dark lines ran down her forehead. There was no way he was going to fit. She looked back to him and then down to the cellar. "So… Do you got this like you did your seating?"

"Yes," Auroch responded. He walked over to the latch, opened it and then placed both of his hands on the part of the floor closer to them. In one swift movement, he pulled up a small chunk of the floor, causing a loud popping noise, which was followed by two surprised screams down below. Auroch stepped back, his brows furrowed. "There are people?"

"Down there, yes…" Tik answered. Once again, she wasn't surprised by Auroch. He was weird and honestly, at this point, doing something like a normal human would surprise her more. Now… They had a gaping hole in the floor, but he could fit through it, at least. "We'll have to make you a better ladder, too." She thought. The small wooden ladder would probably break under his weight.

"I can do that, too. He pressed his hands to the floor and there was a faint, lime green light from in the hole.

"Please don't kill my other guild members," Tik mumbled, watching with a rather alert expression.

There was the sound of stones and earth shifting around and slowly a stone stairway formed below. It wasn't a really fancy stairway and more of just stones jutting out of the wall leading down, but it was more than a ladder and wide enough for someone his side to fit on. He had also used his divination to form stone around the edges of the stairwell so that people wouldn't cut themselves on the jagged wood that was left there from him pulling up the floor.

Auroch leaned back and sighed. He was covered in sweat now and looked a bit exhausted. "It takes much magic to make a staircase…" he breathed.

"I… Bet…" Tik said. She peered down the hole for a good two minutes before she realized that she probably needed to check on Salu and Carlos. There was no way that they were still asleep. "C'mon," she motioned, hopping down the stairwell.

At the bottom, Carlos was standing near the stairs with an amazed expression while Salu was in the corner, curled up. When they saw Auroch, their attention went to him.

"This is Auroch. He's new and he made stairs for us," Tik said, hopping off the side of the stairs halfway down and landing. "And I'm happy to see you two still alive!" she said with a grin and a thumbs-up.

"He made the stairs…?" Salu asked, slowly standing and walking over to Carlos. "That's really impressive~" she admitted with a giggle.

"You're a giant!" Carlos commented. "Can I ride on your shoulder?!" he asked, staring up at Auroch with wide, sparkly eyes.

"I'm only part giant, little metal boy," Auroch commented. "And you should be able to transport yourself. I am not a means of transportation."

"But both of us could fit on your shoulders~" Salu chimed in. "It would be fun~"

"Little guild members should be independent," Auroch continued. However, his efforts were in vain as both of the small mages scurried up the stairs and then hopped off of them onto his shoulders.

"YAY! Now we're super-tall!" Carlos cheered. "And I like the stairs! I don't have to fight with my hands to climb anymore~"

Salu giggled. "I can almost touch the ceiling," she pointed out, reaching up to where her finger just barely missed the ceiling.

Tik laughed. "You guys sure are trusting, y'know?" she said with a grin.

"If you let him join, then he must be nice, right?" Salu asked. "And he made us a staircase, too!"

Auroch looked annoyed, but he didn't make the two mages get down. He turned to Tik. "You said that you needed me for something, right, little master?"

"Not right now 'cuz you look tired," Tik said. She then pointed over to the hole in the wall. "But I want you to help us get to the hot springs through this tunnel!" She, Salu, Nyxus, and Carlos had made decent progress on the tunnel, as the end of it could no longer be seen from the start of it, but they still had a while yet.

"Okay," Auroch said, walking over and pressing his hand to the wall of the entrance of the hole. He couldn't even fit in the hole while standing, but he still said, "This should be no problem once I rest. It may take me a couple of days, yet, though."

"Not a problem!" Tik said with a huge grin.

"We're gonna get the hotsprings really soon?" Salu asked, her face lighting up.

"Can I find some ice to put in it?" Dylan said, walking down the stairs and joining the others.

"Why would you do that?" Carlos asked.

"I don't like the heat," Dylan said with a shrug of his shoulders. "And they warmed up to the big guy fast."

"I'm pretty sure they would warm up to a rabid badger if I let one join the guild," Tik said with a frown.

"But we're all supposed to be like a big family, right?" Carlos asked. "Which means we should love each other, right?"

"Yeah~ I love all of you like my family…" Salu said with a soft laugh.

Tik chuckled. "I can't argue with that, I guess."

"You guys are too happy…" Dylan mumbled with a shrug of his shoulders.

Auroch seemed like there was something on his mind when family was brought up, but he didn't say anything.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Hi~ Hope you enjoyed! I think I may have said I'd introduce four characters, but this chapter is long already, so I only introduced three._

 _ **Matters to Address (IMPORTANT!) :**_

 _-DEADLINE: The deadline for characters is MARCH 1_ _ST_ _! Please, those of you with reservations, get them to me by then! I'm missing nearly a third of my cast! Also, my apologies for rushing, but we want to start planning around our casts. :I_

 _-BE NICE! Am I really saying this? A matter about someone accusing another author of copying The Summit Project was brought to our attention and we DON'T appreciate that. Please don't be rude to other authors on our behalf. Or at all._

 _ **Questions for this chapter:**_

 _-What'd ya think? Any favorites? Creators, how'd I do?_

 _ **Next chapter preview:**_

 _A pretty boy, a lost girl, a big-hearted alcoholic and a pyromaniac join the ranks of Goblin Grin next chapter! 4 characters will be introduced! Probably will be released in two weeks!_

 _ **Credits:**_

 _-Sorne – Hikari-Chimedekina-Neko_

 _-Dylan – DerekJay2000_

 _-Auroch and the concept of Vizen – Origm2012_

 _ **Review responses:**_

 _ **As always, lots of love from me! Thank you all so much for the reviews and I hope you all continue to enjoy the project!**_

 _-Dreadburner94 – Yep. :I I think this chapter was a bit better in terms of not being as happy. :3 Thank you~_

 _-TheLonelyAnon – I'm happy I did okay with Salu. That makes me happy~ :3 And yeah. I think that's the overall consensus. Goblin Grin is a lot lighter than the other guilds for now. It probably will be for most of the intros, due to the character batch I got. :D But it's good that we all have our own little flavors going. :3 I know? Everyone is just so refreshing and happy. I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter~_

 _-FrozenBlast13 – I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter~ I think MyDearWatson is also filled on slots. :3 Thank you~_

 _-MyDearWatson – Thank you~ And I know~ I think that's going to be one of the funnest parts of the project~ Seeing how everyone does with all of the characters and then the moments where we all get to use the same character. :3 Carlos does have a lot of energy. X3 Thank you~_

 _-puffypuffin3 – Yes! X3 Even the less happy mages still have a lot to learn about the world, I think. Just in a different way than the little cheerful ones. They're all so pure and innocent. X3 And I'm happy I did a good job with Carlos~ I think it showed more in this chapter. Poor Sorne. Who knows? I think the next meeting will be lots of fun. X3_

 _-Sakura-Fiction – Yes~ O.O And yep. Optimistic characters are optimistic._

 _-KingKatsu – Yep. I can't start characters on missions when there are no missions to be had. OwO So Goblin Grin will be light and fun for now. :3_

 _-AkumaXHwaorang – Yes! He is! Carlos tries to flirt with everyone, precious innocent baby. :P Yep. Nyxus was just traveling around. :3_

 _-potentialauthor18 – Yep. Goblin Grin is so much lighter than Ragnarok's Call. So much innocence and naivety in this guild. OwO I'm happy you enjoyed the characters~_

 _-PrinceOfTheMatrix88 – Mhm~ Goblin Grin is quite quaint and happy compared to the others. He reminds me of Genos from One Punch Man. :3 Thank you~_

 _-Momochan77 – Yep~ I'm happy you like the characters! X3_

 _-Origm2012 – I know what you mean! You have to match his energy! There's just no way not to. That was suggested by puffypuffin3 and I had fun writing it. I'll probably do another one once most of my cast has been introduced. :3 Thank you~_

 _-Hikari-Chimedekina-Neko – I'm happy you liked all of the characters and I hope I did okay with Sorne~! She'll appear more later. :3 And I'm happy you love Tik. Going from Sorin to her is such a huge change. OwO_

 _-DerekJay2000 – I think we're going to be trying to post on the same day most of the time, at least for now. :3 They are quaint. And he appeared this chapter! I think he's going to be tired, a lot. :P I'm happy you're enjoying the fic! :3_

 _-Zades – Carlos is lovable~ And I'm happy I did okay with Nyxus. That's what I imagined. I don't picture him being the easily trusting type like the rest of his guild personally. Hope you enjoyed this chapter~ I think Nyxus has more people he can get along with easier now. :3_


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